Flying
by PaBurke
Summary: Continuation to Fishing and Plinking, a year or so later. Jack Carter has this friend.
1. Chapter 1

Flying

By PaBurke

Summary: Continuation to Fishing and Plinking, a year or so later

Fandoms: Eureka Season 1 episode 2, SG1 Season 8, Fragile Balance, SGA show finale

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I made no money. This is all in fun.

Word Count: 1600

Rating: Still PG, there's not even swearing in this.

When Jack Carter walked into Café Diem that morning, it was to a subdued atmosphere. Henry wasn't looking pleased and he was talking with Stark. Jack decided that he wasn't approaching that one. He glanced around the restaurant and noticed that everyone was a little pissed off. He ordered his normal coffee/breakfast and decided to hide in his office until there was an emergency.

Just as he was about to take a sip of his coffee, a young hand blocked him. Jack looked into the teen's smirking eyes. "Hey Jack."

"Hey Jack," Jack Hadden said in response. Their similar senses of humor were just one of the reasons that they got along. They had started this greeting ages ago, much to the annoyance of most of the scientists.

"Can I drink my coffee now that I've acknowledged your presence?" the sheriff asked.

"Not if you want to come fly with me."

It wasn't the first time that Jack had been invited along on the test flights, so experience demanded he ask, "how many times has this _bird_ been up in the air?"

Hadden rolled his eyes. "One near miss and the man's skeptical of my abilities."

Jack merely raised an eyebrow. The nearest of the misses had been because someone had wanted the teen dead. The fact that the main investigator in town happened to be up in the air too had just been a bonus. The incident hadn't helped his fear of flying at all. "I know you can fly, Jack," he said. He was still alive as a testament to Hadden's abilities. "I want to know if the _bird_ is flight worthy."

"Henry and Carter are the only two that mess with my personal plane."

"Where we going?"

"Eureka's big sister city."

The quiet murmur of the café died to nothing. Everyone was listening. "Why would I want to go there?"

"'Cause everyone else in town wants to go and can't."

Jack blinked. He had heard whispers of the mysterious city, but no one spoke of it in his presence. He was curious as to why. "I'd have to be back by dark and make a couple calls."

"Lift off's in twenty."

Jack nodded and turned back to the very attentive Vincent. He handed the chef his coffee. "Can I have this in a thermos?"

"Of course, sheriff." Vincent nearly snatched the coffee cup. His face turned conniving. "If you want, I could have dinner waiting for you when you returned."

"Thanks for the offer, but SARAH would probably pout if I were to do that." He accepted the thermos. "Thanks Vincent."

"You're welcome, Sheriff."

"You coming?" Hadden asked.

"I'm coming." Jack followed the younger Jack and the two climbed into the sheriff's jeep and toward the airstrip. The teen didn't say anything as the adult called Jo (who already knew). His deputy promised to inform Zoe and to keep an eye on her. Then Jack called his house and warned SARAH of the schedule change. That conversation actually lasted longer and Jack had to stay in the jeep even after he parked. Hadden slid out of the vehicle snickering. Finally, Jack convinced his house that he would be home safely and disconnected the call.

The young and commanding teen in charge of Section 5 budget was waiting in his sleek, one-of-a-kind aircraft. It was rumbling so softly that Jack couldn't actually hear the engine, but he could feel it in his chest.

"Ready?" Hadden asked.

Jack buckled in and swallowed his objections and fears. "I'm ready."

The canopy slid closed over the two-man cockpit and the virtual screen started feeding the pilot needed information. Jack was silent as the trip started, not wanting to distract Hadden. A mercifully short time later, they were hovering above San Francisco's bay.

"Now you don't see it," Hadden said, "and now you do."

Jack's jaw dropped as the silver city shimmered in front of them. "Wow. That's prettier than GD. Same hiding technology?"

Hadden laughed. "Not really, from what the geeks tell me, just same effect." He touched his earwig and spoke to the city. "O'Neill Two to AT. Come in AT. Over."

"AT to O'Neill Two. Authorization Code. Over."

"Authorization Code Zulu-November-Oscar-3-5-7-1. Permission to land. Over."

"Permission granted to the North Dock. Over."

"Copy. Over and out." Hadden expertly landed. Jack and Jack climbed out of the plane and onto the city.

"It really is beautiful," Jack repeated.

"Thanks," a man was waiting for them. Jack noticed the BDU's and the name stitched onto the breast pocket.

He offered his hand to the stranger. "Jack Carter."

The man smirked and glanced at Hadden. "Any relation to Carter?"

"Nope," Hadden answered. "He's Eureka's sheriff."

"Ah." The soldier shook Jack's hand. "Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. Welcome to Atlantis."

"Thanks," Jack did a second take. "Atlantis? Isn't that a bit egotistical of the scientists?"

Hadden understood as Sheppard looked affronted. "Jack," Hadden said, "this is the original Atlantis."

"Seriously?" Jack's eyes were once more drawn to the shining towers. "Wow. I mean, wow. No wonder every resident of Eureka wants to get here. Who really built Atlantis?"

"The Ancients. One of the oldest aliens in the universe," Sheppard answered, having forgiven Jack's ignorance. "Come on in."

Waiting inside was a two-star Air Force General. He nodded at Hadden. "Jack," he said.

"Jack," Hadden said back. Jack knew that he would like this general who wasn't nearly the stuffed shirt that Eureka had to deal with.

Then the general nodded at Sheppard and offered his hand to Jack. "Jack O'Neill," he said. "Jack mentioned that he was bringing you by today." The general spoke as if it were merely a jaunt down the street.

"Yeah, he didn't warn me."

Sheppard snorted. "It's a Jack-thing. They don't mention certain things not because it's classified or dangerous –they'll tell you that- but because it's more fun and people might not do what they want if they spill all."

The general looked playfully put out. "I told you everything you needed to know."

Sheppard laughed at that.

"Oh good," a new man joined the conversation. Jack knew by his looks that he was a scientist. "Daniel found yet another secret lab –why didn't you allow Daniel to come to Pegasus years ago-" This was directed at O'Neill. Then the balding man handed Sheppard a small device. "Turn this on," he ordered.

Sheppard looked intently at the device and finally it hummed. Or rather it strummed.

"Good, good," the scientist said. He had his head down and was making notes on his computer.

Sheppard handed it off to O'Neill. The hum changed pitches and it was softer.

"No!" The scientist shrieked. "I'm trying to establish a baseline."

Neither man looked repentant, so the scientist grumbled and put his head down to make more notes on his computer. As soon as he wasn't paying attention, O'Neill passed the device to Hadden. The hum stuttered and then restarted. It was the same volume, but different somehow.

The scientist looked up and glared. "Oh," he said dismissively, "it's the clone."

Nobody looked too surprised and Jack found himself thinking 'that makes sense.' Hadden was O'Neill's clone, but Jack didn't like how this scientist treated Hadden. Just as Jack opened his mouth to defend his friend, Hadden put the device into Jack's hand. The device started playing a melody. Hey, wasn't that Jack's favorite song?

"What!" the scientist's eyes bugged. He glared at Jack. Looking him up and down. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jack Carter."

The scientist looked wary. "And relation to Samantha Carter?"

"Nope," Hadden and O'Neill chorused.

"Why are you dressed as a sheriff?" the scientist demanded.

"He's the sheriff of Eureka," Hadden explained.

The scientist mumbled something insulting half-baked ideas and wanting to make a mess of _his_ city. "You knew that he had the Ancient gene, stronger than even Sheppard," he accused Hadden.

"Yep. But he's not as smart as Sheppard and hates to fly."

"You're working on him?" Sheppard asked.

"Trying, but he's afraid of my planes," Hadden replied. "I figured that the puddlejumpers weren't as intimidating."

"I'm right here," Jack ground out. It was bad enough that the scientists of Eureka talked about him, or down to him, or… whatever. But he understood most of this conversation. The device in his hands changed songs, to something more rocky.

Sheppard took the device –it changed to something by Johnny Cash- and handed it to the scientist. "Sorry Rodney, it's just an Ancient IPOD."

Rodney looked bummed, then he stepped right into Jack's personal space. "How long are you here?"

Jack was tempted to lie. "I gotta get back home tonight."

Rodney waved away his comment. "We've got plenty of room here. I've got experiments to run."

"No," Jack countered. "I've got to get back."

"What's so much more important than Atlantis?"

"My daughter."

Rodney brightened. "She have the gene?"

"Yep," Hadden said, "Not as much but she's smarter than he is."

"You're not getting my daughter," Jack laid down the law.

Rodney hmphed. "I need to get back to my lab before Radek blows something up. You guys change his mind." The man left, the Ancient IPOD in hand.

"Not happening," Hadden said at the same time as Jack. Jack was instantly relieved that his friend was still on his side.

"Too young?" O'Neill asked his clone.

"Too young," Hadden replied. "Though you could send Carter over for some teaching."

O'Neill frowned. "I'll think about it."

"You are not recruiting my daughter," Jack insisted.

"Of course not," the Jacks replied.

That didn't make Jack feel any better.


	2. Chapter 2

Prying

By PaBurke

Summary: Continuation to Fishing and Plinking, and now a year or so later, Flying

Fandoms: Eureka Season 1 episode 2, SG1 Season 8, Fragile Balance, SGA show finale

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I made no money. This is all in fun.

Word Count: 1100

Rating: Still PG, there's not even swearing in this.

Even though Jack was expecting it, he groaned when he saw the cars lined up outside of SARAH's bunker entrance at sunset as he parked his own Jeep. Jo was here with the excuse that she was keeping Zoë company. Henry was here because he had best friend privileges. Allison was here because she knew that he wouldn't kick her out. Stark was here because Allison was here and Jack now knew something that he didn't.

Jack decided that he liked Rodney McKay more than Stark. McKay was at least more entertaining in his condescendingness. Three Jacks and a John could completely set him into a tizzy with their gene abilities- and had. Jack removed his earwig and his authorization ID and pocketed them. He didn't want Stark to realize just how accepted Jack was onboard Atlantis. He didn't want any of the smart people inside to steal them and forge their own picture on the ID. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that Jack Hadden (actually the de-aged version of General Jack O'Neill) had promised him a place to crash for the night if he wanted. Hadden had called it a strategic retreat from the interrogation. Jack wanted to check on his daughter, especially knowing that the people of Atlantis were very interested in her.

He walked down to the main door, only to have it open before he could speak.

"Good evening, Sheriff," SARAH greeted. "Dinner is ready. Did you have a pleasant business trip?"

Even his house was a nosy busy-body. "Evening SARAH." Jack walked and barely spared his 'guests' a glance before jogging up the stairs to drop off his jacket. Then he walked back down to face the music.

His deputy was the first one he addressed. "Thanks, Jo. You can go home now."

Jo raised her full glass of juice. "I'm good."

"Jo," Jack stared her down. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Jo pouted a little bit, but then promised, "I'll bring you coffee tomorrow."

"Good," said Jack. "I'm sure I'm going to need it."

Jo nodded and left. Jack relaxed slightly; one down, three to go. Zoë was already glaring at him. "Am I going to be sent to my room next?"

"It's your home too," Jack responded.

Zoë could always read him better than anyone else. "This concerns me, doesn't it?"

"You tell me," Jack responded. "Little Miss One-Twelve."

Zoë's face fell like it always did when she had been caught in a lie.

Jack brushed any further comments away. "We'll talk about this later."

Zoë looked relieved at the reprieve.

Jack now addressed his uninvited guests. "Henry, Allison, Stark. There's no reason for you to be here."

Stark jumped in first. "You just returned from the most advanced…"

"Classified," Jack interrupted. "You wouldn't want me to tell anyone about Eureka, before I was offered a job here. I still can't tell anyone about the place I live and work."

Allison caught his inference first. "You were offered a job?"

Jack immediately turned to his open-mouthed daughter. "We are not moving, so don't worry about it." Zoë settled.

"They offered _you_ a job and you _turned them down_?" Stark sounded horrified.

Jack ignored him. "SARAH? You mentioned my dinner?"

"It is ready, Sheriff Carter. And may I add how pleased I am that you are remaining in Eureka."

"Thank you SARAH." Jack picked up his hot plate of steak and potatoes… and the green vegetable that the house had been adding to meals. He also picked up a beer and sat at his kitchen table. Zoë and his guests joined him there, each with their own drink.

Henry now opened the conversation. "Are you consulting for them?"

Jack wasn't sure if Henry had just figured it out or if he had deliberately asked his question when Jack had a mouthful of steak to give him time to consider his answer. Jack swallowed his food. "They asked me to."

"What could you do for them?" Stark asked dismissively.

"Nathan," Allison chided. "Please. Carter has been an excellent sheriff in Eureka."

Jack knew that comment was half truth and half massaging his ego, but he still smiled his thanks to her.

Henry ignored the byplay. "Jack. What did you think of the city? Honestly, what were your general –vague- impressions?"

Jack smiled and shook his head. He knew that some of his awe bled through his expression. "It's… amazing. Big. They have some good people there. Nice. And of course, very smart."

"Who's there?" Stark asked.

Jack's eyes narrowed slightly. He guessed that this was merely a sneaky way to figure out what was on Atlantis. So he shrugged and stretched the truth. "I met a ton of people today. I don't remember most of the names."

"Just tell us some of the names you remember," Henry prompted.

Jack wasn't thrilled that Henry was helping them out. He took another bite of dinner before replying with the non-scientific names. "There's General O'Neill and Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Carter and Major Lorne and a Mr. Woolsey oh, and Ronon Dex. Now there's a character. If he wasn't already involved in Amelia, I'd introduce him to Jo."

Stark looked annoyed. "They really did offer you a consulting job. What could you do for them?"

Jack was fed up. "I can keep my mouth shut. How about all of you leave? I'm sure that you have a busy day tomorrow and I know that I do."

Allison decided that they had pushed enough and agreed. She practically dragged Stark out.

Henry hovered at the exit. "Jack," he started.

Jack shook his head. "I understand. I really do, but today is not the day to discuss this."

"Tomorrow," Henry asked hopefully.

Jack grinned. "Tomorrow will be fine. Lunch at my office?"

"I'll be there," Henry promised. "SARAH door."

Jack waited until he was outside. "SARAH, door." Finally, it was just him and his daughter… and his automated, eavesdropping house.

"Is it a good job?"

Jack lifted his head. "Hmmm?"

Zoë was evaluating him. "The job from the mysterious city that no one will name; is it better than being sheriff of Eureka? Would they treat you better?"

Jack tried to be honest. "There's a scientist there –that I'd have to work with- that is just as bad as Stark, if not worse."

"Is that possible," Zoë teased.

Jack shrugged and then walked up to his daughter and put his hands on her stiff shoulders. "Eureka is our home. We're not leaving. I'm not going anywhere you can't come."

He could feel Zoë relax. "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem."


	3. Chapter 3

Formulating

By PaBurke

Summary: Continuation to Fishing and Plinking, and now a year or so later, Flying and Prying

Fandoms: Eureka Season 1 episode 2, SG1 Season 8, Fragile Balance, SGA show finale

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I made no money. This is all in fun.

Word Count: 1000

Rating: Still PG, there's not even swearing in this.

Deputy Jo Lupo was waiting for Jack in the sheriff's office. Jack walked in at his normal time, since Zoë dropped him off on her way to school. Jo had his coffee and chocolate chip muffin sitting most precisely on his desk.

She barely waited until he sat down to stand in front of him. "So?" she drawled.

Jack scribbled on a sheet of paper and held it up: BUGS. It wasn't supposed to be possible within the sheriff's office, but a security one smart person could create another one could top, or try to top.

Jo first looked insulted and then thoughtful. Jack was sure that the office had gotten a lot of visitors yesterday, since everyone knew that he had been visiting Atlantis and would want to know the scoop. Finally Jo nodded and set about to finding any hidden transmission devices.

"What time did you kick your visitors out last night?" she asked.

Jack approved of the bland question as he booted up his computer. It wouldn't make anyone suspicious. "Late," he complained. "But not horribly late. Stark left in a huff when he realized that he wasn't going to get anything but a variation of 'I can't tell you that' or 'classified'."

"When are you going back?"

Jack had to grin. "I can't tell you that."

She made a face at his un-funny joke. "I have to work my schedule around yours," Jo reminded.

"Both of us are going to have to be flexible in the coming weeks… and months."

Jo was interested. "Any chance that I could go look around?"

"I'll ask Jack," the sheriff promised. Then with seemingly no warning, "Jo, what's the next number that's free for all of our forms?"

"Seven-three-two-zero. Why?"

"It's about to become our most requested form."

Now Jo was really curious as she noticed that he was typing in the form computer macro. "Would you like some help with that?"

"Why Deputy Lupo, are you offering to do my paperwork?" Jack teased.

Jo held up a half-dozen eavesdropping devices that she had found and bagged and tagged. Jack nodded and watched at she put them in the vacuum holding chamber. Then he stood stretched and waved at the computer screen. "Have at it."

She sat in his chair and skimmed over the form. "Request for Temporary Transfer from GD to AT. Really? All request transfers are going through this office?"

Jack frowned. "All requests must be followed up through this office and then prioritized. There's only one transport and only room for nine people in it."

Jo winced. "That's a lot of people weeded out."

"Tell me about it."

Jo read through the entire form, corrected one spelling error and a piece of grammar. "Printed in triplicate?"

"I wish." Jack started counting out loud. "We need one, the requestor needs one, GD needs one and AT needs one. Of course the government is going to want one anyways. So five. What on earth is the triplicate version of five?"

"Quintuplicate," Jack Hadden said from the doorway. He frowned at Jack. "I'm glad that you're working on this since The Man is up at GD right now informing Stark and Blake of the procedure, but where is your earwig?"

"That'd be a conversation to be spy on," Jack muttered.

"Earwig?" Hadden insisted.

Jack emptied his pockets and Jo got a glimpse of his AT ID. "I have it, but I don't need it until I'm flying."

"You are now on call."

"I haven't signed anything," Jack argued.

Hadden slapped a contract on his desk. "Sign it. And note that it is an acknowledgement that your current contract has been expanded. It's a promotion, Jack. Just accept it so that we can also promote Deputy Lupo." Jo scooted out of the way, so that the sheriff could retake his desk.

"You're just as bad as Sheppard warned."

"It'll be fun," Hadden whined. "Don't give us a hassle."

Jack pulled the papers close so that he could read them.

"I'll start printing this out, sir," Jo suggested.

Hadden moved over to her desk. "I better read through it first." He soon was snickering. "I like the strict wording for if they miss their bus, but you're going to have to make the trip more often. Two hours just isn't long enough for a scientific meeting and you know that Woolsey and Sheppard don't want many people spending the night. You're going to have to make a second run. And McKay won't be happy with just three hours with you a week."

"Why don't you make the second trip?" Jack challenged. "I'm sheriff of this town. I need to be here."

The young man considered it. "Why not? Deputy, add 0100 Zulu for a departure time and I'll return an hour later." He pointed at the screen. "And change the 1900 Zulu to 2000 Zulu. McKay will have to make do with two and a half hours of your time. You'll be gone from nine until noon local time twice a week. I do believe that Deputy Lupo can cover for you."

Jack Carter finally signed the new contract. Hadden was quick to snatch it up.

"Wear your earwig," Hadden commanded. "I'll get Lupo one and add her to the AT switchboard. She'll be able to contact you when your other duties call." He pulled a small device out of his pocket and handed it to Jack. "I parked it out back. You know what to do with it."

Jack eyed the device distastefully. "Why aren't you making all the trips?"

"'Cause McKay doesn't want anything to do with me."

"His loss."

Hadden smiled at the encouraging comment. "Thanks Jack. I'll definitely be seeing you. If anything doesn't seem right about an AT transfer application, call me and I'll follow up on it for you."

"Thanks Jack." Jack was glad to be able to defer some of the responsibility.

"Bye Jack," Hadden said as he was halfway out the door.

"Bye Jack."


	4. Chapter 4

Practicing

By PaBurke

Summary: Continuation to Fishing and Plinking, and now a year or so later, Flying, Prying and Formulating

Fandoms: Eureka Season 1 episode 2, SG1 Season 8, Fragile Balance, SGA show finale

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I made no money. This is all in fun.

Word Count: 888

Rating: Still PG, there's not even swearing in this.

Jack Carter fingered the IDC Hadden had left on his desk and raised an eyebrow at Jo. "Wanna take a quick trip before all hell breaks loose?" Things were quiet in the office for the moment.

Jo only had one objection. "The town?"

"Hadden had the town's CB wired into the controls."

Jo rushed to her desk, grabbed a gun, her helmet and a tac vest and suited up. Jack had to laugh. "It's just a city, Jo."

"So is Bagdad and Eureka," she countered.

Jack shut up before he lost the argument for real. He walked out of his office and quickly turned the corner. Jo was right on his heels. Their goal was to escape before anyone realized that something was up. They were not walking suspiciously, they were not walking suspiciously.

"Jo?" they heard Zane ask.

"Break for it," Jack hissed. They ran for the jumper. It appeared the moment Jack sent it the mental command. They ran up the ramp. Jack hit the button to close the door and quietly ordered the jumper to go invisible.

Jack sat at the controls and gulped.

"Aren't you afraid of flying?" Jo remembered.

"This isn't that bad. Or hard to do," Jack admitted. "It's kinda fun, but I need to get in flight hours, mostly so I don't embarrass myself when Stark's in the jumper."

"And you're not allowed to go solo," Jo was familiar with how military protocol works.

"Yeah. There's that." Jack waited a moment before confessing. "The jumper defers to Hadden when he's in here, so he really can't help much."

"I_Jo_/I?" They could hear Zane's question but he hadn't moved to the front of the jumper so that they could see him on the screen, but then the screen swiveled and they could see Zane standing in the alley looking confused.

"I didn't know it could do that," he muttered. Then he took a deep breath and lifted off. The jumped bumped a bit and hovered indecisively before raising more in the air. Finally they were swooping over the town and traveled west. Jack's hands were white on the controls.

"Carter, find an empty field and practice."

Jack glanced at his deputy. "You sure?"

"I'm sure that I would rather being smeared over a field rather than a hard landing platform. You'll hurt less people that way."

Jack nodded shortly and asked the jumper for a population analysis of the area. He steered toward the area that didn't have any little red dots indicating people. Luckily, it was bigger than the backyard of the sheriff's office. Jack set down the jumper with a hard bump that landed them off-center. He lifted off, turned around and tried it again. He was landing for the third time when Zane's voice came over the CB. "Jo? Carter? Where are you?"

Jack was startled and they landed hard. Jack snuck a glance at Jo, but she was taking this calmer than he was. Frustrated but glad that the jumper was on solid ground, Jack grabbed for where the smart Carter (Lieutenant Colonel Sam) had hidden the CB. "What do you want, Zane?" he asked the punk genius.

"Where are you?"

"Is it an emergency?" Jack asked back.

"…No," Zane finally admitted. "How did you disappear so quickly?"

Jack tossed the CB at Jo and flexed his hands around the jumper controls. He was not going to sit and chat with Zane when he had work to do. He was pleased when Jo very primly informed her boyfriend that they were working on something classified and that Zane shouldn't call unless it was an emergency.

Even with the distraction of Jo and Zane on the CB, Jack managed to lift-off and land several times. With each turn, Jack improved. Jo even relaxed a bit. Jack knew that he had to get better. So he asked the jumper to put a parking space on the screen for a goal. His first attempt was horrible. If he had been trying to land on Atlantis, he would have ended up in the water. So he tried it again.

And again.

And again.

His landings were softer and each time he was closer and closer to ending up directly on top of his goal. He tried again and again. Jo was a good passenger, moving slightly and without exuding tension.

"Can I try?" she finally asked.

Jack had just landed again, his best yet. He leaned back and waved a hand at her and then the controls. "Have at it. But it only works if you have something specific in your genes."

Jo nodded once and put her hands on the control. Nothing. Part of Jack was pleased but another part was rather worried that Jo couldn't fill in for him. He could feel the jumper in the back of his mind, curious and rather disdainfully watching Jo try.

She –Jo, not the jumper- pouted a bit before conceding. "It's not going to work for me, is it?"

The jumper was smug now but Jack tried to ignore that shadow in his mind. "Nope."

"You comfortable enough to get us to the city?" she asked.

Jack thought about it. "Yeah. I think so. I'm pretty sure I can land safely."

"Good. We don't want to leave Eureka unattended for too long."

"Agreed."


End file.
